Modeller’s Bookshelf

As model railway enthusiasts, we spend a lot of time looking at and recreating real buildings. Inevitably, most of us develop a parallel interest in architecture. With this month’s Workbench brimming with features on model structures, here are a couple of essential tomes that all modellers should find engaging. Both are available from good bookstores.

This stylish hardcover book is an essential reference work for fans of the British Railways era. Focusing primarily on stations, the book considers the architectural styles adopted by the pre-nationalised railway companies, as well as the move towards a more modernist aesthetic during the 1950s, as BR attempted to portray itself as a more forward-looking operation. Copiously illustrated, there’s plenty of visual material to inspire the modeller. It’s also a highly informative read. Book: British Rail Architecture, 1948-97, by David Lawrence (Crécy Publishing, 2018)

One of the most distinctive types of building is the railway station, with all manner of decorative styles adopted over the years, especially in pre-br days. And yet they have been at the mercy of progress and have only recently gained a degree of appreciation outside of the enthusiast community. This comprehensive, illustrated book traces the evolution of the English station, from the birth of the railways, through the ‘destructive’ 1960s to the present day.

Book: The English Railway Station, by Steven Parissien (English Heritage, 2014)